ALCOHOLIC TRANCE. 189 



delirium or stupor which follows excess of spirits, or in mental states 

 approaching it, and clear up after recovery, or remain like a cloud for 

 weeks, then from some little circumstances break away and every act 

 is recalled. In other cases only a dim, vague impression remains of 

 what has transpired in the past, which may or may not become clear 

 with time ; or the blank may be total for the time being, and then break 

 away. In many of these cases there is apparent realization of all his 

 acts and words, in others a self-evident unconsciousness of them. This 

 is only the beginning of another and more pronounced stage, in which 

 the blank of memory and consciousness is total, and during this pe- 

 riod the acts and appearance of the person differ but little from those 

 of usual health. In many cases the brain function or action, as seen in 

 his acts, is fully up to the best state of health, even showing more than 

 usual strength in some directions. In a paper read before the Medico- 

 Legal Society of New York, in 1881, I discussed this condition as a 

 trance state following inebriety ; since that time a number of differ- 

 ent names have been suggested by authors, such as inebriate automa- 

 tism, inebriate insanity, inebriate unconsciousness — all describing the 

 same condition. The following may be mentioned as facts that are 

 generally accepted as landmarks from which further study may be 

 dated : 



1. This trance state is a common condition in inebriety, where, from 

 some peculiar neurotic state, either induced by alcohol, or existing 

 before alcohol was used, or exploded by this drug, a profound sus- 

 pension of memory and consciousness and literal paralysis of certain 

 brain-functions follow. 



2. This trance state may last from a few moments to several days, 

 during which the person may appear and act rationally, and yet be 

 actually a mere automaton, without consciousness or memory of his 

 actual condition. 



3. This trance state may be noted by criminal impulses and by 

 unusual thoughts and acts foreign to all the man's past history. In all 

 these cases there are no apparent disturbances of the nervous system, 

 no convulsions, no premonitions to mark this state ; at some unknown 

 point, all unconscious, the eclipse begins. A comparison of the his- 

 tory of a number of cases will show three mental conditions quite 

 prominent : 1. In which the mind in this state acts along certain 

 accustomed lines of thought and action ; 2. In which the mind dis- 

 plays unusual ranges of thought and action, which in some cases 

 can be traced to certain mental states growing out of the surround- 

 ings ; and, 3. Where criminal impulses are prominent, that have no 

 apparent connection with the present or past. These conditions may 

 be illustrated in the following cases : A railroad conductor, who 

 drank to excess every night after the day's work was over, would fre- 

 quently get up in the morning, go out on his train, perform all his 

 duties correctly, and recover consciousness of himself suddenly on the 



